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Stillness in motion : an interdisciplinary study of movement in time and space through ceramics and dance

The research investigates stillness as movement in time and space explored and exploited through an interdisciplinary study of ceramics and dance. Exercises consistent with Butoh, a Japanese dance form, are employed as an exploratory tool to facilitate a broader interpretation of stillness as motion through a corporeal processing of concepts such as time and space. Laban's 'principles of movement' are observed, explored and employed as a method used in choreography to analytically study movement as still components of a flux within space to inform dance composition. This study maps a path to practice that involves the constructing of a material bridge that links two disciplines, ceramics and dance, through similarities and varying approaches to a shared area of concern: movement in time and space. The constructing of this path to practice and its effect on the composing and installing of ceramic composition is the focus of the study. The study begins with the contextualising of 'stillness' as a state of 'movement in time' through Bergson's concepts in philosophy. The experience of real time is located internally by the philosopher Heidegger, who references real time as lived time felt in and through the body. At this point in the research the path transitions to a physical and performative engagement with 'stillness in time and space' in search of its qualities and textures, which shifts studio practice for a period of time from ceramics to dance practice. Two three-part case studies are constructed from participation in a Butoh dance workshop and through the observation of a choreography workshop. Studio experimentation follows which maps a ceramic path to practice through the perspective of dance, exploring the potential to share learning across a disciplinary divide. The final part of the case studies involves the composing and constructing of ceramic installations through the shared perspective of ceramics and dance. This thesis contributes to the discourse on interdisciplinary practice, specifically relating to ceramics and dance. It provides a transferable model of research that merges two fields of practice, broadening and intensifying the experience of learning through a combined kinesthetic, visual and cognitive approach. This model has been tested as an extension of this research within the field of dance and within a therapeutic environment to effect learning.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:730806
Date January 2017
CreatorsMoroney, Kathleen
PublisherUniversity of Sunderland
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/8476/

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